At 91 years old she has more fire in her soul than most 20-year-olds

At 91 years old, she has more fire in her soul than most 20-year-olds."By Margaret Campbell. Alexander William Alfred Stock, footballer and manager: born Peasedown St John, Somerset 30 March 1917; played for Charlton Athletic 1936-38, Queen's Park Rangers 1938-39; player-manager of Yeovil Town 1946-49; manager of Leyton Orient 1949-56, 1956-57, 1958-59, Arsenal (assistant) 1956, AS Roma 1957, Queen's Park Rangers 1959-68, Luton Town 1968-72, Fulham 1972-76, Bournemouth 1979-80; married (two daughters); died Wimborne Minster, Dorset 16 April 2001. Alexander William Alfred Stock, footballer and manager: born Peasedown St John, Somerset 30 March 1917; played for Charlton Athletic 1936-38, Queen's Park Rangers 1938-39; player-manager of Yeovil Town 1946-49; manager of Leyton Orient 1949-56, 1956-57, 1958-59, Arsenal (assistant) 1956, AS Roma 1957, Queen's Park Rangers 1959-68, Luton Town 1968-72, Fulham 1972-76, Bournemouth 1979-80; married (two daughters); died Wimborne Minster, Dorset 16 April 2001. Few football managers have achieved more with less than Alec Stock. Immensely ambitious despite eschewing a variety of opportunities to employ his gifts on a loftier plane, the dapper, disciplined, unfailingly courteous West Countryman emerged as a giant-killer supreme with Yeovil Town, led Queen's Park Rangers of the Third Division to fairytale Wembley glory, and guided unfashionable Fulham to the FA Cup Final for the only time in their history.Perhaps a tendency to worry persuaded him to avoid the merciless spotlight directed on the top echelons of the game, or maybe he preferred to build from his own foundations rather than inherit someone else's work, a situation which pertained more readily at a less exalted level. Whatever, it speaks eloquently for the talent and durability of Alec Stock that he entered League management as the country's youngest boss and left it as the oldest.Born in a Somerset mining village, he attended a rugby-playing school but soccer was in his soul and, while nodding unconvincingly at a career in banking, he made up his mind to devote his life to the game if possible.An enthusiastic and thoughtful inside-forward, Stock began as an amateur with Tottenham Hotspur in the mid-1930s, then switched briefly to Charlton Athletic before making a handful of League appearances, his only ones, for Queen's Park Rangers. Then the Second World War intervened and he served in the Royal Armoured Corps, rising to the rank of major before being invalided out when he suffered injury in Normandy.After the conflict, aged 29 and clearly not destined for the heights solely as a player, Stock accepted the post of player/boss/secretary/general dogsbody with the Southern League Yeovil Town.

Soon his capacity for military-style organisation began to bear fruit and in 1949 he masterminded one of the greatest shocks in sporting history when the humble Glovers knocked mighty Sunderland out of the FA Cup.Before the game Stock made much of the slope at Huish ­ Yeovil's quaint ground which has since been replaced ­ exaggerating it so much in the press that when the Wearsiders arrived they expected a gradient like the side of a house, a delicious piece of psychology which appeared to work wonders.Certainly, Sunderland ­ the brilliant Len Shackleton et al ­ never played to their potential, allowing Stock himself to put the Somerset side ahead with a fierce left-footer. Thereafter the illustrious visitors equalised, but Yeovil grabbed the winner in extra time, thus setting up a fifth-round clash with Manchester United. It mattered not at all that Stock's valiant band were humbled 8-0 by Matt Busby's team, as Yeovil banked a healthy sum and a deathless slice of soccer folklore had been created.His reputation burnished by such derring-do, he was head-hunted by Leyton Orient in August 1949 and proceeded to transform the fortunes of that hitherto lowly club. In 1951/52 Orient embarked on a stirring FA Cup run, seeing off Everton and Birmingham City before bowing out to Arsenal, then came an FA Cup quarter-final appearance in 1954. Meanwhile the Londoners' League position improved gradually, culminating in Third Division South title triumph in 1956.However, Stock was absent from Brisbane Road for 53 days of that eventful campaign, having been made assistant manager to Tom Whittaker of Arsenal. At that point his prospects appeared limitless, but he disliked not being the ultimate decision-maker, despite the obvious carrot of one day taking the Highbury reins. As it turned out, Whittaker died not long after Stock returned to Orient, so had he hung on a little longer his own future, and that of Arsenal ­ who were destined for a period in the comparative doldrums ­ might have been radically altered.There was another colourful interlude on the horizon.

During 1956/57, having stabilised Orient in the Second Division, Stock accepted the management of AS Roma, lured by the opportunity to learn continental methods and, presumably, by a large amount of cash.He excelled in Italy, lifting Roma to third place in the table, but the language barrier proved a problem and he was not impressed by the intrusion of business interests into football matters, so he opted for another return to Brisbane Road.Stock needed a new challenge, though, and he left Orient in February 1959, spending six months out of the game before taking over at Third Division Queen's Park Rangers in August 1959. As was his wont, he encouraged an attractive, attacking mode of play, his new charges scoring 111 goals in 1961/62, though they conceded 73.Then the new chairman Jim Gregory provided money to spend and Stock proved his acumen in the transfer market, acquiring the likes of Les Allen from Spurs and Rodney Marsh from Fulham, while encouraging a new wave of talented youngsters.The upshot in 1966/67 was an inspiring season in which Rangers romped to the Third Division title and won the first League Cup Final to be played at Wembley, coming from two goals down to defeat First Division West Bromwich Albion in a fabulous match illuminated by a classic Marsh goal.The upward trend continued the following term as Rangers secured promotion to the top flight for the first time, only for Stock to resign in the summer, citing poor health as the cause. Having recovered, he became boss of Luton Town in December 1968, guiding the Hatters up to the Second Division in 1969/70, only to leave in April 1972, giving as his reason that he did not enjoy the daily journey from his home in Epsom, Surrey.Two months later he was back in the game with Second Division Fulham, a cash-strapped club with a swashbuckling tradition, which he enhanced by recruiting the former England captain Bobby Moore to play alongside Alan Mullery. Often Stock's Cottagers entertained royally, and though they didn't rise above mid-table status, they notched a club first by reaching the FA Cup Final in 1975, losing 2-0 to West Ham United.Still, it was a remarkable feat by the gentlemanly Stock and his sacking in December 1976 by an aggressive, financially oriented regime was mourned widely.Subsequently he served briefly as a director and caretaker boss of Queen's Park Rangers, then became the League's oldest manager, at 61, when he took over at Fourth Division Bournemouth in January 1979.